


Makeover

by TransparentSheepDeer



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Breaking Gender Roles, F/M, Female Friendship, Gen, Male Friendship, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Prom, Shopping, Tomboy Rayla, Topic: Gender expression
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-07-13
Packaged: 2020-06-27 01:04:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19780066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TransparentSheepDeer/pseuds/TransparentSheepDeer
Summary: Rayla needs a prom dress, and Claudia helps her find one.But is it really a dress that she needs?





	1. Chapter 1

She didn't want to hang out with Claudia. If it were not for Callum, she wouldn't have even agreed to go through the whole thing.

Rayla looked up from her phone for the fifth time in twenty seconds. She arrived too early, but she was hoping that Claudia would do the same.

Too bad she forgot that Callum told her that Claudia was always late. Damn, he even said that she could tell Claudia an earlier time so they both arrived at the same time.

Rayla pictured herself snapping her phone in half. It would be fun to do, in theory, but she refrained from it.

The game she played was boring. She always ended up in situations like this, and yet she always forgot to download new games, or an episode of her favourite show.

Rayla looked at the clock at the top floor of the mall. 2:04. They were supposed to meet at 2:30. Fuck.

Okay. She could either stay here, bored out of her mind, or, alternatively, she could go and look around herself.

She chose the second option. Looking around in the stores took long enough that the rest of the time passed, but without completely going through the collections. It was perfect.

Rayla put her phone in her pocket (because it actually fit, thanks to her pants from the men's section), and attacked the store nearest to her.

She came out about two minutes later, because the store's fashion was meant for women above thirty.

Rayla looked around. She didn't really go to malls, only rarely, during summer when her family had enough time for the drive, or when Rayla had the energy to use public transportation. She had a vague idea about the stores, but she definitely could still get lost in here, so it was best if she stayed on this floor.

It seemed that most of the stores were on this floor, thankfully.

Rayla took another glance at the clock. 2:06. She still had too much time on her hands.

She entered the next store and started looking at the clothes on the left.

She made sure to look at every item of clothing closely, and for too long. She was not too interested, even though sometimes she pulled out a shirt or two to get a better look at the print.

When she was done with the first row, she checked the time on her phone. 2:11.

Rayla clicked her tongue. She really, really hoped that Claudia would, by some miracle, arrive sooner, or at least on time.

She considered looking through the next row. If she looked closely at everything here, there would be no time left for the other sections of the store, much less the items of the other stores in the mall. Alternatively, Claudia could point her to something great (because Callum claimed that she was good at these things).

In theory, getting Claudia's advice, when Callum said it, sounded okay. But when Rayla thought it over - that she was about to get advice from Claudia on how she should dress, it made her wish that she had not done this for the sake of Callum.

Okay, no. No. She was trying to be a good friend. And girlfriend. Both. It was good to try new things. Maybe it would turn out that she and Claudia could like each other.

Rayla took a deep breath, and looked at the other shoppers who were here alone, with their friends, or their parents. Well, it didn't make her want to shop more, but it was worth a shot.

She decided to save that feeling for later, when Claudia was here too. It was always easier to get something you hated done when someone else was forcing you to do it.

She went back to their meeting spot by the fountain, turned on LTE, and started re-watching her liked videos on YouTube.

Claudia arrived thirty minutes later. Rayla could have called her, she even had her phone number from Callum, but she was too busy watching a half-naked Gus Johnson throwing rocks in his garden.

Needless to say, Claudia's sudden arrival and tap on her shoulder scared the shit out of her, and she almost dropped her phone.

"Hey..." she managed, not looking at Claudia because she was putting away her phone, but she noticed that she wore a black and purple dress that reached her ankles.

When Rayla looked up, Claudia smiled at her. She had earrings, white-blue butterflies, and she was wearing mascara. Probably other kind of make-up too, but Rayla didn't know the names of the products she could have possibly used.

"Hey, Rayla. I hope I didn't make you wait for long!"

It was 2:46. Wow. That's impressive for Claudia, Rayla figured. "No," she lied, "though I arrived at two, so that's my own fault."

Claudia chuckled. "Alright. Where do you want to start?"

Rayla made a helpless gesture. "Where do you recommend?"

Claudia turned and pointed at the store that was next to the second store Rayla had gone to. "Let's start with something more mainstream, we'll see if the cut fits your body type."

Rayla disguised her groan with a cough. That was unnecessary. She followed Claudia, seething internally. Of course Claudia fit into those clothes. Of course they complimented _her_ features.

Rayla frowned to herself. Why was this such a big deal? Claudia liked "basic" things, so what? Sure, it was easier to like them if they looked good on you. Rayla didn't even _want_ mainstream stuff. Why was she so bothered by this?

Oh, right. It was jealousy and irrational anger. Yeah. Now that she knew, what was she supposed to do with the feeling?

Squash it down, obviously. Claudia was probably doing this for Callum too. At the very least they could be nice to each other.

Claudia went for the same row on the left that Rayla had already examined. Rayla didn't say anything, though - maybe Claudia could find something she hadn't seen. She had to at least give her a chance.

Claudia's eyes skirted over the shirts and pants with a concentrated expression, and Rayla followed her around like ten-year-olds follow their mom, just old enough to be embarrassed about being here with a parent, but not old enough to be comfortable coming alone.

Rayla tried keeping up with her, but she didn't know what Claudia was looking for.

Claudia suddenly stopped. "A-ha!"

Rayla was about to ask her about it, but Claudia went on with a satisfied grin.

Rayla was not as impressed by her found. Claudia stood in front of a dozen - no, two dozen - types of dresses, each of them coming in two to four colors.

It only took Rayla ten seconds to look at the dresses to be sure that she didn't like any of them.

Claudia came to her. "Which one would you like to try on?"

 _None of them._ "Uh. Which one do you recommend?"

Claudia's face was still gentle and patient. "Well, what do you like? Do you have a favourite color, a, a favourite cut, or, anything? Let's pick something that suits your style."

Rayla looked down at her old faded band T-shirt, her black pants, and black shoes. "Yeah. Right. My style."

Claudia touched her shoulder, laughing, "I take you'd want something... black? Or dark?"

Rayla smiled, embarrassed. "Yeah, um. This is kind of an exception, I normally wear a lot of, green, you know."

Claudia nodded, "Green! Let's look at what we can choose from."

In the next five minutes, Claudia stuffed six different green dresses into Rayla's arms, and now they were waiting in line for the dressing rooms.

"So..." Rayla looked at Claudia, who was texting. "Do you have your prom dress already?"

Claudia hummed. "Yes, of course. I can show you a picture, hold up."

The dress was dark purple. Purple seemed to be Claudia's thing. The dress probably only reached to the middle of one's thighs. It had thin straps (which may be called spagetti straps, though Rayla was not sure), and it was all puffy and swirly. It kind of looked like a cloud.

Rayla had absolutely no reaction to the image. She knew when other girls did this, the one being shown the picture always asked further questions, maybe even screamed in excitement, but she had absolutely no idea what there was to gawk at.

"That's cool. Looks cute."

"I know, right?" Claudia went back to texting. "Don't worry, we'll find something for you too."

Rayla suspected that the dresses in her arms were not going to qualify.

They didn't talk after that. Rayla was bored out of her mind.

When it was her turn to finally try on the things, she stared at the body-sized mirror in the small space with her mouth pulled sideways.

She didn't like this. The lighting was weird and made her eyes glow, and suddenly her outfit looked worse than before. It made her embarrassed. Every other girl in the line, at the story - okay, in the mall - was feminine; long hair, make-up, jewelry, what-have-you, and she was wearing...

Rayla turned and put the dresses on the handles on the side. It was easier said than done, because why would they design the handles to be thick and long enough to hold more than two items?

Rayla removed her shirt, unlaced her shoes, then got down her pants. She ignored her body in the mirror, and took the first dress.

She stared at it for a full ten seconds. How should she put it on? She basically never wore dresses.

She turned the thing, and found a zipper. She pulled it down, and considered if she would pull the dress over her head, or pull it upwards.

She first tried to get it up, but her hips were too wide for the shoulder part to fit through.

Rayla sighed, let the dress fall down to her ankles, stepped out of it, grabbed it carefully, then started pulling it down her head.

Her head ended up in one of the armholes. Rayla stared at her reflection with an enraged expression. How the fuck did she-

Okay. She worked around it, and now the dress was in the right position.

Rayla was still pulling her mouth as she took a look at herself. Her figure was very, very pronounced in this dress.

She did not like it. The dress only reached her knees, and she instinctively tried to pull it downwards, fearing that her underwear could be seen. Obviously, that was not the case, but it sure felt like it.

Claudia's hand popped through the curtain. "Hey! Can I look?"

Rayla wanted to say no. "Um... well, I don't really like it, so..."

Claudia's hand disappeared. "Okay, sure. Is this the first one?"

"Yeah."

Claudia went silent, and Rayla was left alone with her thoughts again.

She turned to see herself from different angles, but it was no use; she just didn't like the dress.

The other five dresses were just as uncomfortable as the first one. Sure, they were different cuts, but that only meant that each one of them made Rayla hate herself in a brand new way.

Claudia was sitting on a nearby couch, scrolling on her phone with a bored face.

Rayla put the dresses on the counter for a retail worker, said thank you, and approached Claudia.

Claudia glanced up, and upon noticing her, she got to her feet. "None of them?" she asked, her tone taken aback.

Rayla pressed her lips together. "No."

Claudia hummed. "Maybe the cuts were bad. How about we try on different ones, ignoring the colour?"

Rayla opened her mouth to say no-

"Just to see what we should be looking for," Claudia added.

Rayla's shoulders sank. "I guess you're right."

This went on for about an hour. Claudia chose dress after dress, and Rayla hated all of them. It didn't matter what colour, what length, what type - none of them achieved what Rayla wanted. And when Claudia asked what she wanted, Rayla could only make a distressed expression, and reply she didn't know.

They sat at a McDonald's now. Rayla ate a hamburger with fries, Claudia had a BigMac with vanilla shake.

They have been through so many stores. There was basically nothing left, only the ones hidden in corners. Those stores, however, were hidden for a reason, and even Claudia couldn't find anything in there.

Rayla wiped her mouth after she finished her fries. "Maybe the problem isn't the dresses."

Claudia glanced at her, she was sipping from her cup. She stopped. "What do you mean?"

Rayla bit her lip.

Claudia probably thought she was weird for not finding a single dress that suited her aesthetic. Rayla was beginning to think that the problem wasn't the dress - it was her.

Some people claimed that women were celebrated and congratulated for being masculine, androgynous or gender non-conforming, that it was liberating, or whatever. But the whole idea was bullshit, and was made up by people who've always played by society's gender roles.

Because in reality, those girls were never invited over to the sleepovers, the shopping sprees on Friday afternoons, to secret conversations about who had the best butt - all of these were reserved for feminine girls, and feminine girls only. Everyone else could only dream about getting into these circles, and watch their whole childhood and teenager years go by as everyone else had the time of their lives. Feminine girls could claim that they didn't have anything against the others all they wanted, but it was all lies.

Rayla only ever got a few tastes of that life, of being accepted into the girl's networks. The thing that made the trick was to start being feminine too. You put on a dress or some make-up once, and suddenly they want to talk to you. Even if only to point out that you were wearing a dress.

Rayla folded the serviette together. "Listen. I hate dresses. I really can't stand them."

Claudia's face remained neutral, but Rayla had a suspicion that she was heavily judging her.

"I promised Callum that I would get one, but I... honestly, I don't even feel like going to the prom anymore."

Claudia didn't reply, and Rayla tore pieces out of the greasy papers her burger and fries have been in.

"Everyone is so excited about prom, about getting to dress up, about being all fancy. Everyone gets their nails done, they cut their hair, hire a make-up artist, but I- I never liked these things! I thought I would, that somehow I could enjoy what everyone else seems to enjoy, but every dress that I try on makes me feel uncomfortable."

Rayla didn't look up. She hadn't shared that ever before. She was too down to really care about Claudia hearing it.

Claudia shifted in her seat. "Hey, Rayla... I'm sorry."

Rayla shrugged. "Not your fault."

"No, that's not how I meant it."

"I know."

Claudia sighed, but didn't say anything.

The silence was so heavy that Rayla had trouble breathing.

"By the way, I appreciate that you tried to help me," she said, looking up finally. "It really is not your fault." She grabbed her a torn off piece of paper and fiddled with it. "I'm the weirdo, not you."

She expected Claudia to stay silent, or maybe even indirectly agree, but she underestimated her. "What if you wore a suit instead?"

Rayla's head snapped up at her. "Sorry?"

Claudia leaned forward. "If you don't like dresses, then don't wear one."

Rayla gaped. "But- a suit?"

Claudia shrugged. "Well, not necessarily a suit, but, you know, anything but a dress. You could wear a white shirt too, if you want."

For the first time in the entire day, Rayla felt some hope. "I haven't even thought of that!"

She got up from her seat rapidly, grabbing her tray and going for the trash. "Let's go!"

They went back to the first store, but this time, they looked at the suits for Rayla.

Rayla buzzed with excitement as she entered the dressing room for the second time, three different colored jackets in her hands, along with three different white shirts. Claudia had the pants, and after Rayla hung the other clothes, Claudia handed her the rest.

Rayla undressed as fast as she could. As she buttoned up the first shirt, she grinned at her reflection in the mirror. It was coming together, it was all coming together. She put on the first jacket, which was black. 

She gazed at herself in awe. Wow. It looked great. It made her feel exactly as she thought she should feel like. She covered her mouth and laughed.

The pants were too big, however. They kept falling down.

"Claudia?"

"I'm here. Can I see?"

Rayla grinned. "Not yet - the pants are too big. Could you please get me a smaller size?"

"Yeah, sure. Then give me the rest of it too, because they're all the same size."

Rayla gave her the pants, and as she pulled away the curtain, Caludia got a glance at her upper body.

Her mouth fell open. "Woah. Rayla, you look _amazing_."

Blood rushed to Rayla's cheeks. "Thank you," she giggled.

Claudia made an impressed face, then she went away.

Rayla turned back to the mirror with a smile, swinging her arms back and forth. She really did look amazing. She loved this.

Claudia returned shortly after. "Lucky you, there was one piece left of the black one. I hope it fits you, crossing my fingers!"

Rayla almost dropped the clothes in her hurry to put on the black one.

The result was breathtaking. Really. Rayla had never seen herself like this.

Confident, comfortable.

She pulled away the curtain with a somewhat anxious heart, and waited for Claudia's reaction.

But she wasn't here.

Rayla frowned and looked around.

Claudia emerged around the corner, and when she spotted Rayla, she sped up. "Sorry!"

She stopped in front of her, and examined her from head to toe. "Rayla, I can only repeat myself - you look stunning."

Rayla wanted to jump up and down from happiness. She turned around to the mirror once more, pushing some stray strands of her out of her face.

Claudia stepped next to her, she held a black tie. She helped Rayla put it on, and then the look was complete.

Rayla put her hand on Claudia's shoulder. "Hey. Thank you, Claudia. I can't put it into words how grateful I am."

Claudia waved it away. "Don't be silly, you would have done the same for me."

Rayla didn't doubt that, not anymore. "Well, I want to thank you anyway." She fidgeted with her sleeve. "Do you think Callum will... have something to say about it?"

Claudia's eyebrow quirked. "I take you mean in the negative sense."

Rayla nodded.

Claudia shook her head. "If he does, then he's a coward, and you should dump him."

Rayla laughed. "That's a drastic measurement."

Claudia smiled, but she looked serious. "Listen, I mean it. Callum should care about your happiness."

Rayla shrugged. "I know, I know. But Callum is sweet - it's me that's an anxious mess."

Claudia shook her head again. "Don't be anxious. You rock that suit. Really. I can't wait to see you wear it to the prom."

Rayla touched the back of her neck in embarrassment, grinning. "That's very nice of you. Thank you."

Claudia patted her shoulder. "Let's buy it. What do you say, can we go get an ice cream as celebration?"

Rayla nodded eagerly. "I like the way you think. Let's go!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading! if you liked it, please leave kudos & comments!
> 
> edit: the reason I left Callum out of this is intentional, I wanted to centralize Rayla's feelings in this fic. I did want to write a follow-up (okay, even more than one), so we'll get there eventually. I'll add new chapters to this work so everything is in one place, just be patient with me folks!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Callum promised Claudia to stop Soren from buying more than one pair of shoes.
> 
> The mission proves to be a lot harder than he originally thought.

Callum had underestimated Soren.

God, the guy was an absolute madman.

Callum stared at the pile of shoes in their aisle, worrying that the mess will be the last straw for the retail workers before they unionized and beheaded the CEO of the company. "Soren. Are you really sure you need to try every single shoe to find the best?"

Soren was in the middle of putting on a shoe on his left foot. His finger was hooked in the back of it, and he pulled the shoe onto his foot smoothly. "Why, that's an interesting question, Callum." Soren was about to say something stupid, wasn't he _._ "Of course I need to try on every single one. How else am I going to find the _best_ one?"

Callum re-crossed his arms in front of his chest, inhaling through his nose. "Dude, literally everyone is satisfied with finding the first shoe that fits them. It's not that deep."

He should not have said that.

Soren huffed, putting his foot down. He extended his arms sideways, and looked around. "Why yes, Callum. And that's exactly why our society is the way it is." He leaned forward, resting his hands on his knees. "If everyone spent as much time worrying about their shoes as they do about everything else," he said, pointing his index finger at Callum, "maybe the world would be a better place."

Callum felt his soul leave his body.

His eyes darted over the boxes on the ground, the paper wrappings thrown everywhere. Sometimes, he noticed someone looking in the aisle, spotting them, and their mess, and then leaving as fast as they could.

Callum scowled at Soren, trying to be intimidating. This was horrible. "At least clean up after yourself! Don't just leave everything out like this!"

"But then how will I know which ones I've already tried on?!" Soren whined. "Listen, Callum, there is a pointing system in the placement of these shoe boxes, okay? It's _im-por-tant_."

Callum grasped the bridge of his nose and counted to three. "Then at least pack away the things you didn't like."

Soren looked innocent. "Okay but, if I do that, then the better ones," he pointed at the boxes on his left, "will become the bad ones," he pointed at the boxes on his right. "You understand, don't you?"

"No," Callum deadpanned, "I do not."

Soren threw his hands in the air and sighed. "I guess the faith of a genius is to be alone his entire life."

At this point, Callum wasn't even sure if Soren was joking or not. The only thing he could think about was insults, but he doubted that Soren really cared.

"You know what," Callum said, "go try on every shoe in the store. I'm going to get lunch. And when you're done, you call me."

Soren grinned, nodding. "Very well. See you later."

Callum left the store mumbling under his breath.

Soren was still not ready when Callum got back after eating his lunch. He left the mess he has made there, migrated to the next aisle, and started over.

Callum finally understood why Claudia had been so serious about this when she had asked him the favor.

 _"Don't let him have his way,_ " she had warned, _"Soren is a monster. You can't leave him for a single moment, otherwise he will wreck the entire store. Can I trust you with this, Callum?"_

Her hands had been on Callum's shoulders, eyes locking with his intently, expression hard.

And Callum had thought, hey, how hard could it be to stop someone from being an asshole?

Now, as he stood in front of Soren, who hadn't even noticed him yet, he realized he should not have told Claudia that he could handle it.

Dear God. Soren was an unstoppable force, but Callum was definitely no unmovable object.

He went up to Soren angrily, making sure that his boots clunked on the ground. "What the hell are you doing?!"

Soren turned around with a confused expression, which faded when he noticed that it was Callum. "Um, trying on shoes? _Duh?"_

Callum grabbed him by the forearm and pulled. Or, at least tried to - Soren was heavier than him, and the whole motion ended up being really awkward, because the guy didn't even budge. "You can't try on every single one, Soren! Just pick one from the first aisle!"

"From the first aisle?!" Soren gasped, "That's blasphemy!"

Callum grit his teeth together. "No it's not, you jerk! Either you pick one from there, or I will personally drag you out of the store, and you'll have to settle on wearing one of your old shoes."

Soren sighed. He freed his arm without any effort, and waved him away. "Fine, fine. But you gotta let me try them on again. Just to be sure."

Callum wanted the earth to open up under Soren and swallow him whole. He balled his hands into fists. "You already tried them on and even _ranked_ them. You don't need to do it again."

"Yes I do," Soren chided, walking past him with his nose held up high, "my tastes change very rapidly."

It took Soren another hour to actually choose a shoe. There was nothing Callum could do or say to stop him from trying on the things once more. At least he could "help" him chose by putting the bad shoes away immediately, thus forcing Soren to narrow his options rapidly.

They had managed to narrow it down to five, then three shoes at the end. Soren had been unable to choose, and had started to convince Callum that he needed to buy all three of them, just in case his mood wanted Shoe #1, and not Shoe #2 or #3 on their prom night.

And Callum, who was completely done with his shit at that point, had given him one look, pointed at the first box, and said, "Eeny," had then pointed at the second one, "meeny..."

Soren had bought Shoe #1 in the end. Now they were getting lunch for him, and Callum bought himself a soda.

They didn't talk at all. Soren checked his phone, frowning. "Claudia wants me to buy her eye-shadow. You done with today, or...?"

Callum sighed. "I can go to the drug store with you."

Soren nodded, without a smile. "Okay, thanks."

Soren finished eating, then they went to the other side of the street to the drug store.

Callum followed Soren, who chanted the brand name and colour of the eye-shadow he needed to buy.

Callum, out of boredom, looked at the booths and examined the products. He knew enough about make-up to know that there was more than just eye-shadow, mascara and lipstick, but not enough to actually know what else there was.

He took a dark red pen into his hand, frowning at the label: _Lip crayon_.

Callum put it back, not feeling any smarter. He gazed at the top row, and recognized the products this time - nail polish. They were lined up by color, from red to orange to yellow, pink to purple to blue to green, then white and black at the end.

Callum's eyes landed on a dark red one. He took the bottle in his hand and looked at the label again. 30 ml, "matte red", it read.

"You like nail polish?" Soren asked over his shoulder.

Callum jumped at the sudden sound. "What?"

Soren nodded his chin at his hand. "I said, do you like nail polish?"

Callum shrugged. "I was just looking."

"Not judging, just asking." 

Callum's shoulders relaxed. "Nah, it's just, the same colour as my tie, that's all."

Soren nodded. "Cool. What colour is your suit?"

"Navy blue," Callum said. "Do you think it would fit?"

"The nail polish?"

Callum shrugged. "Yeah. I mean, I've never done nail polish before, so I don't know."

Soren hummed. "Well, if you haven't tried it before, I don't recommend trying it for the first time on prom night. I remember when Claudia did it, she messed up the whole thing and her entire finger ended up bright pink. Took her days to get it off."

"Mm." Callum put the bottle back. "So no, I guess."

"Why, would you want to?" Soren asked, looking at him intently.

Callum tried not to shrink from his gaze. "Uh... if I mess it up anyway, then no."

Soren laughed. "Dude, then try it out today and practice it. Prom's in a month, you have plenty of time to get it done okay."

Callum looked back at the top row of the brand's booth. "But will it fit with the rest of my outfit?"

"I mean, you can try that out at home, you know?" Soren leaned closer ad put his finger on the price. "It's not expensive, so if you don't like it after all, you don't waste too much money."

Callum nodded, and reached for the bottle again. "Okay. It's a worth a try."

* * *

At home, he sat to his desk, and examined the bottle. He unscrewed the cap, and it turned out that the brush was attached to it. It was dripping too, and Callum put it back in haste.

Okay. How did this work? Should he just, somehow, put it to his fingernail fast and let the thing flow around until it was covered in it, or...?

Maybe it was best if he watched a tutorial.

Ooooooooh, he was supposed to get the extra drops of nail polish by pulling the brush along the neck of the bottle.

Callum did so. He attacked his first finger, and dragged the brush along the middle of his left index finger.

So far so good. Callum put the brush back into the bottle, then got to work on the edges.

Well, those were noticeably harder. Callum had only ever drawn with pencils, brushes had never been his thing, and now, faced with the problem of having to paint the thin edges, he regretted not trying harder to learn it.

Yep, he messed it up. The left side of his flesh was covered in a very thick coat of nail polish.

Callum grabbed a Q-tip as fast as he could, covered it in nail polish remover (thank God Soren told him to buy some of that too, Callum would have forgotten it), and started to scrape it off.

He managed to get rid of most of the unneeded nail polish.

He did the same mistake on the other side, but at least he was prepared.

When he was done, he examined his finger with a grin. Then he realized that he had nine fingers left to paint - and that five of them would have to be painted with his left hand, - but he didn't let that discourage him. He did it, and he was proud of himself.

When he was finished with his left hand, he did another horrible mistake, but this time, he couldn't correct it.

Because he wasn't used to not being able to move his fingers, he managed to smudge it by reaching in his backpack to check his homework real quick.

He was an idiot.

He had to get the entire thing off and reapply it. God. It made him so frustrated.

Then he applied another coat, and this time, he was a little better.

The fingernails on his right hand... well, they were horrible. He completely blew it.

Callum sighed, examining his fingers tiredly. This took him an hour to complete.

It was kind of weird, the feeling of having something cover his fingernails. But it was only weird because it was unusual and something he hadn't done before, so no big deal.

He actually liked the colour.

He got up from his seat and went for his wardrobe to try on his outfit.

When he was dressed up, he stepped in front of the mirror carefully.

The suit was okay, of course. He reached up to knot his tie, and couldn't help but notice how his deep red nails looked by contrast to his blue jacket and white shirt.

Callum smiled to himself, embarrassed. He let his arms fall to his sides.

The nail polish wasn't _that_ obvious. He supposed that people would notice when he reached for things or touched his hair, but otherwise, it really was subtle.

Callum grinned at the mirror. Well, he liked it. It added something to the look, but not without completely throwing off the outfit.

This had been a good choice on his part.

He undressed, and started doing his homework.

After he was finished, he texted Rayla to let her know that he was okay, just tired, and she texted back something similar, along with a hugging gif.

Callum smiled to himself. Rayla was a sweetheart.

They decided to not let the other see what they'll look like at prom so it would be a surprise.

Callum couldn't wait to see Rayla, and he couldn't wait to see her reaction to his outfit too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you liked this chapter! please leave kudos & comments! thank you for reading!


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